Last week saw a flurry of technopolitical developments as the US and India announced a slew of technology and defense deals. In case you missed it, we had a special post dissecting the preliminary details of India’s accession to the Artemis Accords. Check it out here ! Also tune in to this podcast episode of All Things Policy, where Pranay Kotasthane, Aditya Ramanathan, Bharath Reddy, and Saurabh Todi from the High-Tech Geopolitics team discuss the announcements in the India-US joint statement i...
Jun 28, 2023•29 min
Matsyanyaaya: Insights from recent OEWG discussions on Information and Communications Technologies — Anushka Saxena The militarisation of cyberspace is a reality. And to enable states to discuss and adopt common rules for global governance of cyberspace, on 31 December 2020, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 75/240 establishing an Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on the security of and in the use of Information and Communications Technologies. The mandate for the Group extend...
May 31, 2023•22 min
Biopolitik: The Power of Four: Biomanufacturing and the Quad — Saurabh Todi A biological revolution is underway in global manufacturing. Products produced from genetic engineering and biomanufacturing techniques are replacing many chemical, industrial and farm-based products. According to a 2020 McKinsey report , the substitution of chemical products with biological alternatives through modern biotechnology has the potential to produce up to 60 per cent of the physical inputs required by the glo...
May 17, 2023•16 min
Cyberpolitik: AI and Crime Prevention: Is it a force multiplier? — Satya Sahu Crime prevention is based on the idea that crime can be reduced or eliminated by modifying the factors that influence its occurrence or consequences. We can classify “prevention” into three main types: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary prevention addresses the root causes of crime or deters potential offenders before they commit a crime. Secondary prevention aims to intervene with at-risk groups or individuals ...
May 03, 2023•22 min
Cyberpolitik: The Gell-mann “AI”mnesiac Effect — Satya Sahu Here are two screenshots of a hastily written prompt to which ChatGPT dutifully responded almost immediately. As I read the responses to my prompts, I was painfully aware of the fact that the second passage could very plausibly be attached alongside a doctored image of a scientist holding up a processor die and forwarded countless times on Whatsapp by thousands of my fellow citizens, all overjoyed at the prospect of India finally having...
Apr 05, 2023•14 min
A new discussion document authored by Shailesh Chitnis provides a pragmatic assessment of India’s capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) today. It proposes one bold idea which, if properly executed, has the potential to catapult the country into a dominant position in the AI race. But why another document about AI strategy for India? The expert from the document is provided below. Most reports on AI in India follow a predictable pattern. First, they fuss over the potential of AI to alter e...
Mar 22, 2023•6 min
Cyberpolitik: A Recurring Payments Nightmare — Bharath Reddy Have you tried to make a recurring card payment to a foreign merchant only to find that your card gets declined? This is not an issue with the card being maxed out; most international payments using Indian credit or debit cards don’t work because merchants find it too cumbersome to comply with India-specific regulations. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated that from October 1st, 2021, for every recurring transaction below ₹5,000, ...
Mar 08, 2023•16 min
Matsyanyaaya : Why Apple's teething troubles in India matter — Shailesh Chitnis Last year, between April and December, Apple exported more than $2.5bn worth of iPhones from India. Shipments during those eight months were nearly double the previous fiscal year’s (April 2021 - March 2022) total. For India’s “Make in India” ambitions, those numbers are promising. They are also tiny. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, in 2021, India produced 3 million iPhones. China produced 230 million units duri...
Feb 22, 2023•14 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Can India and the US Head into Space Together? — Aditya Ramanathan India and the United States have taken a modest leap towards greater cooperation in space. Last week, the two countries’ national security advisers, Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan, kicked off the first meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET. First set up in 2022, the focus of iCET was to enhance technological cooperation in defence as well as other sectors. A fact sheet released ...
Feb 08, 2023•15 min
Matsinaya : Backdoors to state control — Shailesh Chitnis The Chinese government has signalled a shift in how it plans to control big tech. This month, news reports emerged that state-owned enterprises are set to take a 1% stake in two of its most prominent tech companies, Alibaba and Tencent. Euphemistically dubbed "golden shares," this small stake grants special privileges and gives the government an outsized role in how these companies are run. Typically, these shares come with a board seat a...
Jan 25, 2023•14 min
A happy new year to all our readers! To kickstart this year’s edition of Technopolitik, we have assembled a list of predictions for 2023 across tech sectors, ranging from online regulation, biotech and outer space. Maybe we can take stock of these predictions and see how much of it we got wrong (or right) at the end of this year! Beginning from this edition, we also introduce a new section to our newsletter called Biopolitik , while will cover all the fascinating tidbits about the biotechnology ...
Jan 11, 2023•15 min
Matsyanyaaya #1: Opening up to open-tech — Bharath Reddy "Open Tech" refers to transparent, inclusive technology and embodies the freedom to use, study, modify and redistribute to the maximum extent possible. The definitions of open-source software, open standards, and open-source hardware are well understood. "Open Tech" is an umbrella term that includes all of these technology areas. The usual arguments promoting open source technologies highlight reducing costs, avoiding vendor and technology...
Dec 14, 2022•13 min
Antariksh Matters: Shattering Space Record Myths — Pranav R Satyanath Earlier this week, a record was broken in the shadowy world of military space tech. At least, that’s what some of the headlines make you believe. The secretive X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) uncrewed spaceplane, operated by the US Space Force, landed at the NASA Kennedy Space Center on November 12th after spending 908 days in orbit. It broke the previous orbital record (780 days) by a large margin. The spaceplane, which is b...
Nov 16, 2022•17 min
Antariksh Matters : Tying commercial and military ends — Pranav R Satyanath Eight months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is an established fact that commercial entities in space provide a vital service for enhancing military capabilities. The Ukrainian military purchased hundreds of images from companies like Maxar and Planet to monitor Russian formations. More famously, internet services provided by SpaceX’s Starlink constellations proved vital for soldiers on the battlefield . Other com...
Nov 02, 2022•14 min
Antariksh Matters: Starlink & the Dismal Attractions of Space Warfare — Aditya Ramanathan The contributors to this newsletter are not an unduly pessimistic lot. They nevertheless retained little doubt that geopolitical adversaries would seek to contest each others’ ability to use space-based assets. What was harder to predict was that we would see its first instances as early as 2022. It was also harder to imagine that some of these dangers would draw public attention because of a sordid spa...
Oct 19, 2022•11 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Small Launchers and Small Windows of Opportunity — Pranav R Satyanath The small satellite launch vehicle market has a new player - Firefly Aerospace. The US-based private company on Saturday (October 1st 2022) conducted the first successful launch of its rocket Firefly Alpha . The company attempted a launch in September 2021, which failed to get to orbit. Today, Firefly is one of only four private NewSpace companies in the world which provide dedicated small-satellite launc...
Oct 05, 2022•17 min
India Needs a Holistic and Effective Techplomacy Strategy — Arjun Gargeyas Earlier this year, the Takshashila Institution published the Techno-strategic Doctrine for India. The doctrine outlined the fundamental principles India must follow to springboard as a technology superpower. As the doctrine mentions, one of the critical approaches for India to reach the status of a technology superpower is by becoming a vital node in the global technology ecosystem and building strong links with states th...
Sep 21, 2022•14 min
Antariksh Matters: Putting space ambitions in context — Pranav R Satyanath The Artemis 1 mission rocket stays grounded, ready to launch on another day. The North American Space Administration (NASA) made two unsuccessful attempts to get the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket off the ground. The first attempt to launch the Artemis 1 mission, the rocket's Engine-3 (SLS has four engines) faced a cooling issue. During the second attempt on September 3rd, NASA aborted the launch due to a fuel l...
Sep 07, 2022•20 min
Cyberpolitik: The Internet of Yesterday and Tomorrow — Bharath Reddy The foundation of the internet was built on three pillars: * Reliance on the private sector, * Light regulatory oversight, * Free speech and a free flow of information. The hope was that these values would also be accepted as the internet would be accepted across the world. However this utopian vision is far from the reality of today’s internet. Gradually the internet has become less secure, more fragmented and less free. Autho...
Aug 24, 2022•16 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Spying on Spy Satellites — Pranav R Satyanath In February this year, the United States launched a nondescript satellite simply designated as NROL-87. Those who keep a close of space launches know that the NROL designation stands for national security satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office. The satellite likely entered a 284 x 425 km Sub-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.25 degrees. The NROL-87, also designated as USA 326, is suspected to be a ne...
Aug 10, 2022•16 min
Matsyanyaaya: The New CHIPS Bill Raises More Questions than it Answers — Arjun Gargeyas In the last week, the US Senate decided to advance a bill to promote and support semiconductor chip manufacturing in the country. The bill, known as the CHIPS Act, is an extension to the previous year’s legislation passed by the Senate which approved a $250 billion bill to reinforce US chipmaking to compete with the growing clout of China. With the global chip shortage receding and the production getting back...
Jul 27, 2022•13 min
Matsyanyaaya #1: Material Partnerships Today and Tomorrow — Pranav R Satyanath In June 1939, the United States Congress passed the Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act to ensure the steady supply of raw materials that were deemed to be critical for economic development and national security. Strategic materials at the time included those that were essential for nuclear research, like uranium and thorium. Although these materials were by no means rare in the form of natural ore, the r...
Jul 13, 2022•20 min
Antariksh Matters #1: India’s Space Policy under IN-SPACe — Pranav R Satyanath On 10 June, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the headquarters of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The setting up of IN-SPACe promises to usher in a new era for India’s commercial space sector, as the organisation is geared to function as a one-stop institution for regulating space activities and providing entities in the private sector access ...
Jun 29, 2022•18 min
We at the Takshashila Institution like to begin with first principles. Since the beginning of our High Tech Geopolitics Programme, we’ve pondered the key ideas and approaches that ought to inform our approach to the subject. After many discussions, message threads, and chats over lunches, we’ve distilled our thoughts into a short and crisp Techno-Strategic Doctrine. This doctrine provides a foundation which India’s policy wonks and policymakers can use as they craft domestic and international te...
Jun 15, 2022•6 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Fishing out illegal fishing vessels — Pranav R Satyanath During the Quad Summit held in Tokyo on May 23, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States agreed to establish the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). This initiative hopes to extend the existing mechanisms for maritime cooperation among the four countries and harness commercially-available data to put together a more accurate picture of the maritime domain. The Quad count...
Jun 01, 2022•22 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Dual-use Dilemmas in the OEWG on Space Threats — Pranav R Satyanath The first session of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Reducing Space Threats was held last week between the 9th and 13th of May in Geneva. The OEWG was created under the requirement of the United Nations Resolution 75/36 which called on member states to exchange views on norms, threats and behaviours in outer space. Deliberations on matters of space security are not new . They’ve been taking place und...
May 18, 2022•17 min
Antariksh Matters #1: Telangana’s SpaceTech Framework — Aditya Pareek In its latest policy document, “ SpaceTech Framework” , the Government of Telangana acknowledges the central role of private enterprise in the rapidly growing global space economy. The twelve page long document lays down a framework to nurture the state’s own private space tech sector. There is a notable focus on enabling entrepreneurship in both upstream and downstream applications as well as removing many bottlenecks and reg...
May 04, 2022•19 min
Matsyanyaaya: Russia’s response to Crippling Tech Sanctions — Aditya Pareek The Russian government’s response to the devastating series of embargoes, sanctions and export controls barring high-tech components and semiconductor chips is interesting. One of the measures intended for immediate relief is the legalisation of parallel or gray imports . Parallel imports will lead to the Russian market being supplied with products without their Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) or Intellectual Proper...
Apr 20, 2022•14 min
Cyberpolitik: Invasion and Infektion — Prateek Waghre In a recent edition of The Information Ecologist, I had referred to the activity around the IStandWithRussia and IStandWithPutin hashtags that seemed to include a number of accounts associated with India. The second India subplot is the presence of seemingly India-associated accounts in Twitter trends such as ‘IStandWithRussia’ and ‘IStandwithPutin’. See this thread by @NovelSci and these threads by ( 1 , 2 ) by @MarcOwenJones. Since then, we...
Apr 06, 2022•23 min
Matsyanyaaya: The Effects of Tech Sanctions on the Russian Economy — Arjun Gargeyas An edited version of this article came out in Hindustan Times on March 16, 2022. The current actions taken against Russia have mainly been in the form of targeting the Russian economy through sanctions and embargoes, specifically targeting sectors that Russia relies on export revenues. The US has also introduced high-tech sanctions, mainly depriving Russia of access to critical technologies (like semiconductors, ...
Mar 23, 2022
